You do not need a license to make bullets for your own use. Federal law only requires a license when you manufacture ammunition as a business, meaning you regularly produce it intending to sell it for profit. Reload at your own bench, shoot what you load, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has no licensing requirement for you. Start selling what you produce, and the rules change quickly.
Reloading for Yourself Is Unlicensed
If you handload cartridges for your own firearms and never sell, trade, or give them away, no federal license or permit applies. The ATF regulates ammunition manufacturing, but its licensing requirements kick in only when ammunition is produced for sale or distribution.1Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms Licenses Buy your brass, primers, powder, and projectiles, load them, and shoot them yourself. No paperwork with the federal government is required.
“Personal use” is narrower than it sounds. Handing loaded rounds to a friend at the range, trading ammunition for goods, or loading custom rounds for someone else all edge toward distribution. An occasional favor is unlikely to draw federal attention. A pattern of producing ammunition for other people starts to look like a business, and the ATF evaluates the pattern rather than any single transaction.
People Who Cannot Legally Reload at All
The personal-use exemption assumes you are legally allowed to possess ammunition in the first place. Federal law prohibits several categories of people from possessing any ammunition, factory-loaded or handloaded.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts Those categories include:
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison
- Fugitives from justice
- Unlawful drug users or addicts
- People adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution
- Non-citizens unlawfully in the United States or admitted under most nonimmigrant visas
- Dishonorably discharged veterans
- People under qualifying domestic-violence restraining orders
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence
For a prohibited person, loading a single round is a federal crime. Some people assume a decades-old conviction no longer matters, or that loose components sit in a different legal category than loaded cartridges. Neither assumption holds.
When You Need a Type 06 FFL
Once you cross from personal use into producing ammunition as a business, you need a Type 06 Federal Firearms License. Federal law defines being “engaged in the business” of ammunition manufacturing as devoting time, attention, and labor to making ammunition as a regular course of trade, with the principal objective of earning a livelihood and profit from selling it.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions Manufacturing ammunition for sale without this license is a federal felony.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
The Type 06 is specifically for manufacturing ammunition for firearms other than destructive devices or armor-piercing rounds.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms and Explosives Licenses by Types It does not authorize you to make firearms themselves. The application fee is $30, and renewal is $30 every three years.1Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms Licenses
Where the Line Sits
The “livelihood and profit” language creates a gray zone the ATF resolves case by case. Loading a few hundred rounds of a wildcat caliber and selling the extras at a gun show once probably does not make you a manufacturer. Advertising loaded ammunition online, taking custom orders, or regularly selling at shows almost certainly does. If you are unsure, the safe answer is to get the license. At $30, it costs less than a box of premium rifle ammunition.
What Licensed Manufacturing Actually Costs
The $30 fee is the smallest number in the ledger. Once you hold a Type 06, other obligations apply.
Federal Excise Tax
Every manufacturer who sells shells or cartridges owes an 11% federal excise tax on the sale price, collected under the Pittman-Robertson Act.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4181 – Imposition of Tax This is not income tax. It is a tax on each sale, filed quarterly with the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. Sell $10,000 of ammunition in a quarter and you owe $1,100 in excise tax before you touch income tax. Small manufacturers routinely underprice their products because they forget this line.
Records the ATF Can Inspect
Licensed manufacturers must keep records of production and sales, and the ATF can inspect them during business hours.6eRegulations. 27 CFR 478.125 – Record of Receipt and Disposition
ITAR, Only If You Make Specialized Ammunition
Most small-scale manufacturers loading common rifle and pistol cartridges will not deal with the State Department. Standard commercial small arms ammunition was largely transferred to Commerce Department jurisdiction in 2020.7Federal Register. International Traffic in Arms Regulations: US Munitions List Categories I, II, and III8Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Getting and Staying in Compliance with the ITAR9Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Registration Payment
Ammunition No One Can Make
License or no license, federal law flatly prohibits manufacturing armor-piercing ammunition. Personal use is not an exception.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts The statute defines the category two ways:3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 921 – Definitions
- A projectile or core usable in a handgun and made entirely from tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium
- A full-jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber, designed for handgun use, whose jacket weighs more than 25% of the total projectile weight
The narrow exceptions cover manufacturing for federal or state government use, for export, or for testing authorized by the Attorney General. The statutory definition focuses on handgun ammunition. Common steel-core rifle ammunition such as surplus military 7.62x51mm does not meet the definition because it is not designed and intended for use in a handgun, though any specific projectile should be checked against the statute.
State, Local, and Storage Rules the Federal Answer Doesn’t Cover
Federal law sets the floor. Some states require permits or registration for ammunition manufacturers beyond the federal FFL. Others restrict ammunition types civilians can possess, adding prohibitions that go beyond the federal armor-piercing ban. Local zoning ordinances may prevent manufacturing activities in residential areas even if you hold every required federal license. Before you set up a bench or apply for a Type 06, check your state’s firearms statutes and your local zoning office.
Storage of powder and primers at home is governed by fire codes rather than the ATF. Most local codes adopt the National Fire Protection Association’s standards, which cap unregulated residential storage of smokeless powder at 20 pounds and set separate limits for primers based on their DOT classification. A fire involving improperly stored components also creates serious problems with a homeowner’s insurance claim.
What Happens If You Skip the License
Manufacturing ammunition for sale without a Type 06 FFL is a federal felony. Under 18 U.S.C. ยง 924, a willful violation carries up to five years in federal prison, a fine, or both.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 924 – Penalties A prohibited person who possesses or makes ammunition faces up to ten years. Licensed manufacturers who falsify required records face up to one year.
Prosecutors do not need to prove you made large quantities or earned significant money. The “engaged in the business” test turns on pattern and intent, not scale. A handful of online sales made with clear intent to profit can support charges.